Daily Log

Came down about 10:45. I compiled for didn't post Music Week yesterday. I started working on a Substack post yesterday, and got probably half way through. It starts by discussing Wu's five-step process from monopoly to strongman dictatorship. I've covered that, but need to decide where to go from there. As I've noted, there is a lot of value in the policy proposals Wu and Cory Doctorow are pushing, but I'm skeptical that there is much political will to get them done. That's partly because they're too nerdy for most folks to understand (or care about), partly because they skirt the more fundamental issues that people can understand and get worked up over (like having companies, and for that matter governments, repeatedly screw them over). But the problem there is that political solutions to such problems are likely to be painful, not least to politicians who depend on rich donors to get elected.

Cooler today (56F now, high 60F, looks like patches of rain between noon and 3PM). Probably a decent attic work day, but I need to wrap up my writing. Laura has doctor appointment this afternoon. She lost Wordle last night, breaking a streak of over 365 days. Got caught on "*atch" words. She asked me for advice, but I didn't venture a guess. Turned out to be "latch," which I would have picked over a couple of her guesses (last one was "hatch," which tends to happen as we avoid doubling rare consonants). I have no streak, as working it would mess up her NYT account. She does have me doing Quordle, which she works up to finding the first word, leaving the other three for me. I cycle through 5 games there, losing one every 2-3 days, mostly Extreme when I can blame her using up most of the guesses. I use a calculator, which speeds things up considerably. She considers that cheating, but it saves me a lot of mental wheel-spinning, especially when there is only one possible word. It still leaves a fair amount of strategy, even if it is different.

Daily Log

Woke up early, but managed six hours of sleep. Read the intro chapter of Power and Progress, before entering the section on 19th century canal building. They have AI on the mind, but much of that is still speculation. I didn't get the website updated yesterday, so I still have my q&a to publish, as well as the archival version of "Lookback: Iraq 2023." I did write a fair amount on the eternally hapless Loose Tabs. Presumably I'll do a Music Week today. I've pretty much exhausted my demo queue, but have new mail to unpack.

One thing I am disturbed by is that I seem to have missed a whole day without pills (probably Saturday, as I took Saturday's pills yesterday). I've sometimes discovered missing the morning pills that night, so I usually just take them, then the evening pills before I go to bed. No obvious problems, but this time the mental lapse is chilling. While I clearly have a lot of work to do today, at this point (10:30) I feel like doing nothing.

Email (11 messages):

• Tom Carson: Our Nixon (from 1994)

Music Week

Expanded blog post, May archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 31 albums, 3 A-list

Music: Current count 45881 [45850] rated (+31), 14 [10] unrated (-4).

New records reviewed this week:

• Atmosphere: Jestures (2025, Rhymesayers Entertainment): [sp]: A-
• MC Paul Barman & Kenny Segal: Antinomian Pandemonium (2026, Fused Arrow): [bc]: B+(**)
• Black Nile: Indigo Garden (2026, Hen House Studios): [sp]: B+(**)
• Ryan Blotnick: The Woods (2024 [2026], Fishkill): [dl]: B+(**)
• Bobby Broom: Notes of Thanks (2025 [2026], Steele): [sp]: B+(*)
• Garret T. Capps: I Still Love San Antone (2026, Nudie): [bc]: B+(***)
• Jessye DeSilva: Glitter Up the Dark (2024 [2026], Nine Athens): [sp]: B+(**)
• Richard Gilman-Opalsky: A Fierce and Gentle Force (2025 [2026], Edgetone): [cd]: B+(***)
• Ize Trio: Global Prayer (2023-25 [2026], self-released): [cd]: B+(**) [06-12]
• Paul Kahn: Willingness (Carl Cat, EP): [cd]: B- [06-19]
• Kehlani: Kehlani (2026, Atlantic): [sp]: B+(**)
• Ella Langley: Dandelion (2026, Sawgod/Columbia): [sp]: B+(***)
• Los Thuthanaka: Wak'a (2026, self-released, EP): [bc]: B
• Myra Melford/Satoko Fujii: Katarahi (2024 [2026], RogueArt): [cd]: A-
• Hedvig Mollestad Weejuns: Bitches Blues (2026, Rune Grammofon): [sp]: B+(***)
• The Monochrome Set: Lotus Bridge (2026, Tapete): [sp]: B
• Maisy Owen: Dark on a Sunny Day (2026, Tompkins Square): [sp]: B+(*)
• Andreas Røysum Ensemble: With Marvin Tate (2025, Motvind): [bc]: B+(***)
• Maria Schneider Orchestra: American Crow (2025 [2026], ArtistShare, EP): [os]: B
• Serokolo 7: Maramfa Musick Pro (2026, Nyege Nyege Tapes): [bc]: B+(*)
• Bria Skonberg: Brass (2025 [2026], Cellar Music Group): [sp]: B+(**)
• Harry Styles: Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. (2026, Erskine/Columbia): [sp]: B+(*)
• Tokischa: Amor & Droga (2026, Warner Latina): [sp]: B+(***)
• Álvaro Torres Trio: Mairena (2025 [2026], Fresh Sound New Talent): [cd]: B+(**)
• The Twilight Sad: It's the Long Goodbye (2026, Rock Action): [sp]: B+(**)
• Steve Wilson: Enduring Sonance (2025 [2026], Smoke Sessions): [sp]: B+(*)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Terry Callier: At the Earl of Old Town (1967 [2026], Time Traveler, 2CD): [cd]: B+(**)
• Antoine Dougbé: Antoine Dougbé Et L'Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou (1977-82 [2026], Analog Africa): [bc]: A-
• Roy Hargrove: Bern (2000 [2026], Time Traveler): [cd]: B+(**)

Old music:

• Ryan Blotnick: Kush (2016, Songlines): [sp]: A-
• Terry Callier: The New Folk Sound of Terry Callier (1964 [1968], Prestige): [sp]: B
• The Monochrome Set: Strange Boutique (1980, Dindisc): [sp]: B+(*)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Dawn Clement: Dear Ms. Dearie (Origin) [05-22]
• George Cotsirilos: In the Wee Hours (OA2) [05-22]
• Gabriel Espinosa: The Brazilian Project (Origin) [05-22]
• David Janeway Trio: Live at Blue LLama (SteepleChase) [05-04]
• Doug MacDonald: Tribute to South Central (Dmac Music) [06-01]
• Jennifer Madsen: Girl Talk (SingBaby Productions) [06-26]
• Andrew Moorhead: Mirage (OA2) [05-22]
• Sergio Pereira: Colors of Time (Sergio Pereira Music) [05-15]
• Leigh Pilzer: Keep Holding On (Strange Woman) [06-19]
• Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band: Arsenio and Beyond: Live at the Bronx Music Hall (Jazzheads) [04-10]
• Christopher Sánchez: Latin Jazz Meets Opera (Zoho) [05-08]
• Joe Syrian Motor City Jazz Octet: A Blue Time (Circle 9) [04-24]

Daily Log

Didn't get around to starting this entry until 12:37, so details on sleep have already faded from memory. Started reading Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson. First few pages seem promising. One idea that occurs to me is that the paths of technological development and capitalism were largely parallel (congruent?) for a long time, such that capitalism was the most efficient way to produce technological development. But the goals have always been slightly different, and that divergence is widening, as capital focuses ever more sharply on extracting rather than creating value.

Warmed up today, 81F now, expected to reach 86F. Not too hot to work outside, but I seem to have missed my window for working in the attic. C'est domage. I'm still pretty sore as it is. I got the Substack post on Iraq 2003 up yesterday. I should update the website today, as I have three answers to reader questions, plus the noel/ss archive. Thinking about doing another fairly quick post based on something from Tim Wu's The Age of Extraction: he offers a five-stage progression beginning with economic concentration and ending in a strongman dictatorship. While the first three stages appear inexorable (concentration, extraction, resentment), do the last two (corruption, dictatorship) really follow? Perhaps in the US they have: corruption is off the charts, and Trump certainly wants to be a dictator. But the more classic consequence of such resentment is revolution, or some sort of counterrevolutionary reform. It seems that may be worth a bit of thought.

I'm also slowly inching toward some house sorting work. I did a tiny bit of looking around in the basement yesterday. At some point I'll get back to that. Meanwhile, I'm probably just going to write, and do some website work.

Email (39 messages, most left over from Friday):

• My Substack post: Lookback: Iran 2003. Likes: 2.
• Substack April 2026 stats: 99 subscribers (+3), 247 post reads (+132; i.e., 2 posts vs. 1).
• Got my invite to vote in the 79th Annual DownBeat Critics Poll. They're offering a promo hat this year instead of the usual T-shirt.
• Robert Wright: AI and the New McCarthyism. Bernie Sanders has proposed a moratorium on new AI data center construction utnil some safeguards are implemented. AI flacks (Nathan Leamer is first named, though behind him you find moguls like Marc Andreessen and Greg Brockman) are accusing him of treason, surrendering the AI race to China.
• Phil Overeem: My Ten -- Scratch That -- Twenty-Five Commandments of Teaching
• Christian Iszchak: An Acute Case: Unheard: Atmosphere: Jestures (*); Harry Styles: Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally (B+).
• Tom Carson: Frankenride 3 (novel in progress, paid only).
• Chuck Eddy: Toledo Mud Hens Forever.
• Brad Luen: The Bullpen 012.
• TomDispatch: Tom Engelhardt: A World in Trumple Deep
• Substack: Stats for Lookback: Iraq 2003: 113 views, 2 likes, 0 subscriptions.

Daily Log

Woke up from a dream where my car had been stopped by police, who were intent on searching everything. A lawyer friend was also mentioned: the two of us supposedly had "bookmarks" that the police were exploring, so I tried calling her. After getting someone else, I woke up. Read some more by Tim Wu, bringing me near the end. Came down around 10:30. Playing Roger Miller.

I reached a possible end to the "Lookback: Iraq" substack post, but I didn't post it. Today. I need to reconsider the end. Trump's great innovation in US foreign policy is that he doesn't even pretend to give a fuck. Bush still had enough sense of right and wrong that he felt compelled to lie when he wanted to do something bad. My classic example was how he called his timber company clear cut giveaway the "Healthy Forests Initiative." Another example was "No Child Left Behind." He sure snookered Ted Kennedy with that one. I hated Bush's Saudi-inspired "guest worker" program, but in some ways it would have been better than the combination of blind indifference/belligerence that de facto exists. Trump isn't much worse, but he's much more shameless about it. I think that shame among sinners is overrated, but shamelessness is still worse. Hypocrites erode standards, but at least they accept them as principles.

I also wrote answers to a couple of questions. Didn't post them either, but I did manage quite a bit of writing yesterday. New jigsaw started. It's going to be relatively difficult.

Email (74 messages, mostly left over from Friday):

• Tom Carson: Can We Please Impeach Trump's Casting Director? Favorite line here is "Or gaze worshipfully at Pete Hegseth, who believes that war is a continuation of date rape by other means." And that's about 10 good lines in, with more to follow, like: "A nod to Chuck Schumer, living proof that you don't send Bob Cratchit to do Ebenezer Scrooge's job."
• Shock Hosting support notice of cPanel security vulnerability. Seems to be fixed.

I posted to Substack my Lookback: Iraq 2003 piece (also here.

Daily Log

Opened this file up at 11:10, so events like waking up and coming down track back an hour or so. I put a disc from one of the Velvet Underground bootleg sets on, and perused Facebook. I saw an item about how Bob Christgau hasn't published his 2025 Dean's List yet, so I added this comment:

I should perhaps admit that the last ent_date in the cg database is 2025-03-12, so I am over 12 months behind. While he has dictated a 9-month quarantine for CG reviews, there are some that should be visible but aren't yet in the system. On the other hand, even with the quarantine, you should be able to see get_ydate.php, but due to my sloth you cannot. I've fallen behind like this in the past, and when he's complained I've snapped to, but that hasn't happened here (yet). I've fallen way behind on my own shit. I only got two substack posts out in April, leaving a third one in my drafts file. My streamnotes indexing is still stuck in 2025. I have an interesting question pending about my "motivation," so I'm giving that some thought. The relevant part here is that I'm mostly demand-driven, and he's been pretty quiet for some time now. I don't know what that means. That I'm feeling the same may point to age, but that's hardly the only excuse for malaise these days.

I opened an extra terminal window and tab in Workspace 6 in case I want to start working on the CG database. Many other things on my mind today. I made a small but high calorie dinner yesterday. It started when I picked up a rack of pork ribs the other day. One of the easiest ways to deal with them is to put them in a Korean marinade, then roast them (45 minutes at 350F). My soybean paste was old and crumbly, and I cut way back on the chili paste. I didn't have an apple, but opened a can of pineapple instead, along with an individual serving of pears, and I scraped the bottom of a jar of hoisin sauce into the mix, before letting them marinate overnight. I was going to make stir-fried lima beans, and maybe a bit of rice. Laura suggested inviting Janice & Tim over, so I figured I'd scale up a fried rice, and make a dessert.

For fried rice, I've been riffing on Tropp's ham & egg recipe, adding curry spices and extra vegetables. I had half an onion left from the marinade, so added garlic, ginger, and a shallot, and fried that as a base, with some curry powder and chopped ham and soppresata. On the side, I sauteed some shredded carrots, a red bell pepper, a zucchini, and the usual eggs. I folded them into the rice, along with scallions and pine nuts. I only used 1 cup of rice, but it made for a big bowl.

For dessert, I made gluten-free brownies, with almond flour and cocoa for structure, and black walnuts. I topped each with chocolate chip ice cream, my leftover Mexican ganache (made from chocolate with cinnamon and coconut cream), and whipped cream. I doubt the brownies are quite as good as my ATK recipe, but they came pretty close. Ate way too much yesterday, and got virtually nothing else done. Well, I did write a bit on the Iraq War trawl, but failed to get anything I could post in April, leaving me with just two Substack posts. I am coming to realize that my idea of simply numbering the NOEL posts is a bad one. I need to be able to knock out small bits while working on longer ones. I read a bit today in Tim Wu about five stages of economic concentration from monopoly to extraction to mass resentment to democratic failure to strongman rule (pp. 122-124, "The Road to Serfdom"). I could do some kind of riff on that. But I think the focus shouldn't be the stages, but the choices in moving from one to the next. None strike me as necessary, let alone proper.

Finished breakfast at 12:30. Hard to know what to try to do today. Playing Hedvig Mollestad.

Email (53 messages): Didn't get around to looking at these.

Daily Log

Came down around 11. I put some ribs into a Korean marinade last night. Laura suggested inviting Janice & Tim for dinner. I'm waiting on confirmation before cooking more. If they come, I'll add some fried rice and a dessert to the menu. Otherwise I may just bake the ribs and make lima beans. So uncertain how much cooking I'll do today. Cool again, with high near 60F, so would be ideal to work on attic. Maybe build that dog platform Laura wants. I got little done yesterday, but did start a Substack post that collects some of my old Iraq War posts. Also some Loose Tabs.

I took the first step toward disposing of excess/unwanted books: I created a pile file for Kiosk Books. First book added to the file, and moved to the kiosk: PostgreSQL's Developer's Handbook (2002). Tech books seem like a good place to start, and this one literally on a pile, not a shelf. I also created an analogous file for CDs, currently empty.

Email (34 messages):

• I got a confusing message about changes to Thunderbird Snap and Flatpack, requiring some effort on my own sometime before June/July. Seems to have to do with the frequency of software updates, and how stable they allegedly are. Something else it's impossible to make an informed evaluation of, but presumably they're asking because they don't want to be held responsible for the consequences.
• Larry Blood writes that he didn't receive confirmation that I signed him up to the jazzpoll list. I did, but can't verify that the greeting message was sent to him. I jumped through various hoops, including rediscovering how to log into whm, to no avail.
• Substack (Explaining Inflation): +2 likes.
• TomDispatch: William deBuys: The Border Wall Thrives, the Borderlands Don't
• Substack: Three models for building community for your podcast
• Ryan Blotnick: "Maybe the hopeless messiness of the physical world has its own kind of charm though, no?" I took a picture, posted it on Facebook, send it back to him, saying "judge for yourself." He responded: "Wow! I like it."

Daily Log

Woke up early. Read some. Came down around 10:15. My progress through Tim Wu's The Age of Extraction is slowing down, probably because the book is getting more interesting. Noted this quote (p. 74):

That's why we might also say that the platforms today, whatever they may say, are really in the business of herding a rather mercurial and moody form of livestock (us).

I'm not sure how far we can pursue the livestock metaphor. It works on two levels: the motivation is to harvest by-products (like milk and eggs, or for people, so far, attention and money); and then there is the technique of herding (management, or manipulation). Note that the word "herding" does appear in some management lit/lore — often negatively, as in the difficulties of "herding cats" (in my experience, most often applied to programmers).

Nothing much to do today. Pretty cool at present (49F, high 62F), so one could work on attic if one was so inclined. I have several writing ideas, but nothing (beyond Loose Tabs) that I am committed to.

Email (24 messages):

• Laura forwarded a Boston Review "virtual event" with three people I'm not familiar with talking about "the way AI is changing the way societies, individuals, and governments make decisions." She got the tip from Kathy McAfee, and says she registered for it.
• Substack stats: 111 views, 1 like, 0 subscriptions.
• Tom Carson: You Are Number III: "The artist formerly known as Prince Charles and his consort Camilla crept into the United States on Monday, no doubt hoping they'd be misdirected to a mine shaft turned nuclear waste-disposal site."
• Ryan Blotnick: Sent me a yum code for his new CD. I should have the CD around here somewhere, but I can't find it, so I downloaded. Will review soon.

Daily Log

I posted my Substack piece on Explaining Inflation last night. I expect a lot of "TL;DR," but I think it's pretty good, with a lot of points, even if many of them could use elaboration. I didn't put the X/Bluesky notices out. I fixed that this morning, posting on Facebook as well. Music Week slipped a day, which is still comfortably within April. I'll compile that later today (or maybe tomorrow). Meanwhile, I have eye doctor this afternoon, so that will disrupt the day. Otherwise, not much happening. I'm working a bit on Loose Tabs. I feel like I ought to do a Books post. I still have a tab opened to do a Substack lookback on the Iraq war, which should make for a fairly easy post. And I could start with the house work.

Email (34 messages):

• Tom Carson: Tequila Shooters: on the White House Correspondents Dinner shooting, and conspiracy theories.
• Substack: post and shareable assets for "Explaining Inflation." Reactions: 1 like.
• I wrote to, and got a reply from, Elias Vlanton. Says he's been following Mearsheimer, Parsi, and Pape on Iran; recently went to St. Louis for first time in 7 years; goes to Greece twice a year; has created an archive of "US intelligence documents on Greece in the 1940s" which is now online at "an archival institute in Athens."
• Wichita Public Library: Two books renewed, so not due until May 15. I finished Cory Doctorow's Enshittification last night, and started Tim Wu's The Age of Extraction. The Doctorow book is very good. I'm hoping to just skim Wu, as it is largely redundant, but so far is proving interesting.
• Lots of download links, including Makhathini and Salvant, which I will probably stream in due course. A new Kalia Vandever album is being hyped as a "debut," so that's going to cause trouble.

I wrote quite a bit of introduction to Music Week, and posted this quite late.

Music Week

Expanded blog post, April archive (done).

Tweet: Music Week: 50 albums, 8 A-list

Music: Current count 45850 [45803] rated (+47), 10 [20] unrated (-10).

New records reviewed this week:

• Paulo Almeida: Love in Motion (2025 [2026], Dox): [cd]: B+(**)
• Angine De Poitrine: Vol. II (2026, Spectacles Bonzaï): [sp]: B+(***)
• Teller Bank$: Hate Island (2026, $357ENT): [sp]: B+(**)
• Abate Berihun & the Addis Ken Project: Addis Ken (2021 [2026], Origin): [cd]: B+(*)
• Yaya Bey: Fidelity (2026, Drink Sum Wtr): [sp]: B+(***)
• Julie Campiche [Solo]: Unspoken (2024 [2026], Ronin Rhythm): [sp]: B+(***)
• Dälek: Brilliance of a Falling Moon (2026, Ipecac): [sp]: B+(***)
• Damana: Rhizome (2023 [2025], Umulius): [bc]: B+(**)
• Marie-Paule Franke: Through the Cracks, the Light Is Born (2026, MariPosa): [cd]: B+(***) [06-26]
• Fuerza Regida: 111xpantia (2025, Rancho Humilde/Street Mob/Sony Music Latin): [sp]: B+(**)
• Barry Greene: Giants (2025 [2026], Origin): [cd]: B+(*)
• Jared Hall: Hometown (2023 [2026], Origin): [cd]: B+(**)
• Phil Haynes/Ben Monder/Peyton Pleninger: Terra (2025 [2026], Corner Store Jazz): [cd]: B+(***) [05-01]
• IDK: E.T.D.S. A Mixtape by .IDK. (2026, Rhymesayers Entertainment): [sp]: B+(***)
• Kathy Ingraham: Jazz Dreams (2026, Peirdon): [cd]: B+(*)
• Anthony Joseph: The Ark (2026, Heavenly Sweetness): [sp]: A-
• Kesha: . [Period] (2025, Kesha): [sp]: A-
• Jason Kruk: Beyond the Veil (2026, SunGoose): [cd]: B [05-01]
• Joachim Kühn: Joachim Kühn & Young Lions (2025 [2026], ACT Music): [sp]: A-
• M.I.A.: M.I.7 (2026, Ohmni): [sp]: B+(***)
• Mammal Hands: Circadia (2025 [2026], ACT Music): [sp]: B+(*)
• Liudas Mockūnas/Samuel Blaser/Marc Ducret: Twisted Summer (2023 [2026], Jersika): [sp]: B+(**)
• Ashley Monroe: Dear Nashville (2026, Mountainrose Sparrow): [sp]: B+(*)
• The Outskirts: Orbital (2025 [2026], Aerophonic): [dl]: A-
• Praed: Al Wahem (2026, Ruptured/Annihaya): [sp]: B+(**)
• Shalosh: What We Are Made Of (2025 [2026], ACT Music): [sp]: B
• Jae Skeese & ILL Tone Beats: The Good Part, Vol. 1 (2026, Griselda): [sp]: B+(**)
• Peter Somuah: Walking Distance (2025 [2026], ACT Music): [sp]: B+(***)
• Station Model Violence: Station Model Violence (2026, Anti Fade): [sp]: B+(*)
• Taroug: Chott (2026, Denovali): [sp]: B+(*)
• Katelyn Tarver: Tell Me How You Really Feel (2026, Nettwerk): [sp]: B+(**)
• They Might Be Giants: The World Is to Dig (2026, Idlewild): [sp]: B+(**)
• Viktoria Tolstoy & Jacob Karlzon: Who We Are (2025 [2026], ACT Music): [sp]: B+(**)
• Jessie Ware: Superbloom (2026, EMI): [sp]: B+(*)
• What You May Call It: Da Qi (2024 [2026], MechaBenzaiten): [cd]: B+(**) [05-08]

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Angine De Poitreau: Vol. 1 (2024, Spectacles Bonzaï) **
• Joe Henderson: Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1978 [2026], Resonance, 2CD): [cd]: A-
• Joe Henderson Quartets: Tetragon (1967-68 [2026], Craft): [sp]: A
• Ahmad Jamal: At the Jazz Showcase: Live in Chicago (1976 [2026], Resonance, 2CD): [cd]: B+(***)
• Yusef Lateef: Alight Upon the Lake: Live at the Jazz Showcase (1975 [2026], Resonance, 3CD): [cd]: B+(***)
• Art Pepper: Everything Happens to Me: 1959 Live at the Cellar (1959 [2026], Omnivore, 4CD): [sp]: A-
• Michel Petrucciani: Kuumbwa (1987 [2026], Elemental Music, 2CD): [cd]: B+(**)
• Cecil Taylor Unit: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (1969 [2026], Elemental Music, 2CD): [cd]: A-

Old music:

• Joe Henderson: The Elements (1973, Milestone): [sp]: B+(***)
• Kesha: Gag Order [Live Acoustic EP From Space] (2023, Kemosabe/RCA, EP): [sp]: B
• Ashley Monroe: Satisfied (2006 [2009], Sony): [sp]: B+(***)
• Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson: 1980 (1980, Arista): [yt]: B+(***)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Richard Gilman-Opalsky: A Fierce and Gentle Force (Edgetone) [03-15]
• Ize Trio: Global Prayer (self-released) [06-12]
• Myra Melford/Satoko Fujii: Katarahi (RogueArt) [05-15]
• John Pachnos: John Pachnos (Avgonyma Music) [05-15]
• Álvaro Torres Trio: Mairena (Fresh Sound New Talent) [05-01]

Daily Log

Got up early again. Two short chapters left in Cory Doctorow book, which I am so impressed with I'll eventually have to buy a copy. I will at least take a look at Tim Wu next. Came down about 10:30. Tried the Bobby Broom record, but it won't play. I wrote my way to the end of a Substack piece on inflation last night. I sent it to Art Protin and Laura. Art reads a fair amount of economics, so might tell me if I'm full of shit. Haven't heard back from either. At this point, that's not going to be a gating item. I've about reached the don't-give-a-fuck point with Substack, so I might as well throw out what I have. Music Week is due today. I'll run the cutover at some point, but I may not post until the Substack comes out (so I can mention it in the introduction). Nothing else for today. I go out to eye doctor tomorrow.

Email (25 messages):

• Semipop Life: Video & Audio: looks like singles. I did follow up and play the Katelyn Tarver album.
• Michael Steinman: I found a couple of his Substack pieces in the spam folder. Cleared them, and added him (Substack address) as a contact, for whatever good that may do. (Is that a whitelist?) I tend to delete his pieces, but sometimes I'll follow a music link. I certainly don't mind getting real writing from real writers.
• William D Hartung: Shutting Down the War Machine
• Mike Konczal: Cherry-Picking the Wrong Inflation Measures With Kevin Warsh: Offers 13 measures of inflation (meaning prices), where Warsh prefers the "trimmed mean" measures, probably because they are lower (2.33%, 2.64%) than conventional PCE (2.80%) and CPI (3.32%) measures. Konczal dislikes the "trimmed mean" measures not because they are low but because they lag and muddle CPI/PCE measures, leading to policy missteps (they are slow to detect inflation, after which they overcorrect).

Daily Log

Slept solidly, but got up early, not even making five hours. Read quite a bit, then came down at 9:30, feeling like getting back into my writing, although I attended to some computer tasks, jotted this down, and opted to work a bit on the jigsaw, until breakfast, anyway. Dog came down too, and is hungry and whiny.

Email (3 messages, it's early, but the hype falls way off on Saturday):

• Tom Carson: Ah-nold's Ghost (California gets back to the future).

Daily Log

Slept better. Came down 11:30. Expecting a severe thunderstorm around 5PM, with more storms in the evening, and possibly overnight. Currently 69F, partly cloudy. Radar shows scattered storms north and slightly west of here, I-70 between Hays and Salina, much more in central Nebraska. We're starting to get short on groceries, but can hold out through weekend. I'll probably spend most of the day at computer, collecting Loose Tabs, maybe writing my inflation piece for Substack. New video card works fine, but hard to tell if there's any performance improvement (should be, but probably unneeded). The new keyboard is more of a problem, but I'll stick with it for now. Keys are very clicky. Tricky to find my position. I'm getting a lot of phantom escape sequences, probably because the keys are higher, so I'm dragging my palm a bit on the bottom edge. [PS: There are two special function keys on the bottom row causing problems: one has four squares, the other has two rectangles in a box with two broken corners (suggests a menu to me). Evidently I can kill them off with xmodmap, assuming I can figure out the keycodes. There is also a program called keyd: "a system wide key remapping daemon which supports features like layeirng, oneshot modifiers, and macros."]

Next home project is to organize the electrical tools and components. I have two square tool caddies. I plan on filling one with AC tools, the other with cable tools. One has a little component holder, so I can put a few basic things there, but most will go into the new drawer units. Laura wants me to build a platform so the dog can look out the back window. This would be slid behind the couch, where she currently has a plant stand. I'm tempted to resist, having built steps and ramps for the previous dog that went unused. But I have leftover scrap from one of those that could work at the platform, so all I'd have to do is add some legs, then maybe cover the top with some carpet? (Did I have carpet already cut for that?)

Email (30 messages, most left from Friday):

• Robert Christgau: The Big Lookback: The Greatful Dead. Posted notice and archived article on his website.
• Jim Eigo is promoting a Substack by Anne Phillips called Survivor of the Music Business. Link here: "The music business was alive and jumping in the 1950's when I dared, as a singer, to leave Wyopmissing, Pennsylvania (Taylor Swift's hometown, too) and take off for New York City."
• Chuck Eddy: An Ocean of Calamine Lotion
• The Nation Daily: Trump and Hegseth are winning the war against their own military (Jeet Heer).
• Eigo is also promoting: 31st Annual Jazz Journalists Association Awards Finalists Announced in 40 Categories of Excellence in Music-Making and Jazz Media. I should probably look at these pieces, and maybe comment on them like I do the DownBeat polls.
• Robert Wright: The new Blob is even scarier than the old one.

Getting very little done today. We did get a pretty substantial amount of rain this evening. Why is this hard to check on the internet? A site called raindrop.farm says 1.42 inches or 1.57 inches, depending on zip code (67206 and 67212, today + yesterday, which was 0; but when I type in 67203, I get 3.45 inches). My own Ambient Weather gauge registers 0.0. It's partly obscured by a tree, so has always underreported, but appears here to be totally broken. Another site called precip.ai is showing hourly slices for 67203, at about 0.2 + 1.4 + 1.8 inches (3.4 total). They're also showing wind speed topping out at about 12mph (guests to 25mph).

Started to work a bit on the inflation post for Substack, so link here.

Daily Log

Woke up just after 9. Read some about antitrust actions against Big Tech, then came down at 10. I didn't really feel up to it, but today's a big day, with much to do. I'm hoping to finally get the carport railing done. We went to Lowe's yesterday, and then to Kohl's, coming home in time for the big storm. I bought the short (1.5-inch) lag bolts I needed, and also a jack-lift, which I hope to use to help raise the platform an inch so I can slip the blocks out, slather them with adhesive, and put them back into place. I need to cut some extra blocks to hold the raised platform while I'm down on the ground level lining everything up. Then we can lower the platform onto the positioned blocks, and the weight will effectively clamp them together.

I have five blocks in place along the outer rail. I need to cut two more for the side rails, and fit them the same way. The outer posts are attached to the frame with lag bolts, so none of that has to be touched. I still have to bolt down the inner posts, which means I have to open up the space to put the bolts in. I also have to lift the frame to squeeze some adhesive under the frame (there are no additional support posts there). I had been thinking I'd lower the near post ends before working on the outer rail, but maybe I should elevate the entire frame, then lower it piece by piece in fairly quick succession: the near ends, the middle of the outer, then the corners.

After that, the final assembly of the railing should go pretty quick: fit the ballisters into the base rails, then into the top rails, and attach the top rails with screws to the posts. I've already put the caps on, and won't have to remove them. I may try to clean up the pieces along the way, or just hose them down at the end. In any case, the tricky part will be getting the supports positioned and glued. The posts are already much more solid than they were before disassembly, and keeping the whole frame level should prevent future weakening by sag or leaning. Should be huge getting this chunk of work finished. We could move on to the attic, but I'm beginning to think that "out of sight is out of mind" there.

Email (35 messages):

• DownBeat: Focus on Europe! (Mammal Hands/Amalie Dahl/Camila Nebbia/Nik Bärtsch)

Computer hung/crashed about 1 AM. Screen goes blank, then comes back with flashing noise. You can see a patch of noise moving with the mouse, so it looks like the video card has its bits confused. This has happened a dozen or so times before. Figuring it means the video card is flaking out, I ordered a replacement: a Maxsun Radeon RX550, with 4GB GDDR5. It's a modest upgrade over the old ASUS card, but supports HDMI, and doesn't require its own power cable. Only change is that it takes up two back panel slots, instead of one. I dusted the box, installed it, and also swapped in a recently purchased Logitech mechanical keyboard. I've had it on the other machine for several weeks, but have hardly used it at all. First impression is a little clanky. Will take some getting used to.

After some miscommunication, I got Doug over to work on the carport railing. We basically got it finished. A couple pieces of trim are still unattached (more poorly attached), and I have a few screws left over, so I've probably missed some. I wanted to add some mid-span supports, but measurements are varied, and I didn't get them figured out. Some of the ballisters have locks. I think they're intended for the middle of the spans, but Doug held them out and put them all in the last span. I need to look at that. But I could just ignore these fine points and consider it good enough for now. Arambula still has to get the mini-split hooked up. That'll be the end of the roof project. Hopefully next week. Meanwhile, I'm exhausted and very sore.

I didn't get most of my email opened today. I'll catch up over the weekend. We're supposed to get another round of storms on Saturday. Maybe Sunday as well. Need to go to grocery store one of those days.

Daily Log

Got up at 10. Came down at 11. Doug came over yesterday. We got the carport railing frame up on the carport, assembling the three big pieces, and leveling them. He left as I was starting to secure the posts. First thing I discovered was that I couldn't use the 5/16 lag bolts I had bought, so I had to go back and exchange them for 1/4. After I got back, I realized I bought the wrong mix of 1.5- and 2.5-inch piece, so I'm going to have to go back today for more 1.5. I did get the outside posts secured. I still have to do the inside, then secure the leveling blocks (which are currently loose-fit). I'm thinking about putting roof cement on the bottom, and construction adhesive on the top. To do this, I'll need to raise the pieces an inch or so. I need to think about how to do that. Also, the posts near the house don't have supports — the 2x6 lays flat on the roof — so I'll probably just use roof cement for that. Rain today, with chances going up after 3PM, much higher 6-10PM. Doug offered to come over today, but I think I'll postpone to Friday, which should be nice, high 76F. We might get it finished then.

Email (30 messages):

• Mike Konczal: Is the Vibecession Homogeneous to Degree Zero? Why doubling the average price and every income might still leave people worse off.

Daily Log

Came down shortly after 11. Didn't quite finish the chapter on how Google employees tried to "don't be evil" after management had changed course on that score. Doug worked on yard yesterday. Covered up the bare spot north of the house with red ground cover. Watered the new grass seed. I worked on the railing. I eventually got the face pieces screwed into the planks, and I added a couple of mounting boards to hold the long piece together, and to mount the side pieces. I went out to hardware stores earlier, trying to find something to put on treated wood cuts, to no avail. I decided to use linseed oil for that purpose, so mixed up some, and dabbed it around. I bought a gallon (plus?) of Thompson's clear sealer, but didn't get into that. Most of the little work I managed to get done was at ground level, and was painful. Mostly cloudy today, currently 66F, high 70F. Storms on Thursday and Saturday, with a nice sunny day in between. Doug is supposed to come over this afternoon. I don't know whether I'll try to put some sealer on (would be good to do the bottom/outside sides, as the top/inside will be easy once it's in place) before we move the pieces up to the carport. I'm thinking about that.

But quite possible that we'll get the railing moved up. Next step will be to align the inside posts, then level the side pieces. I'll need to cut 4x4 posts for the beams to stand on. Measurements TBD. I've bought various adhesives to secure the posts to the roof material. Not sure what to use, or whether they'll work. I'm very sore, so I'm skeptical about how much I might get done. But Nothing else on the agenda.

Email (26 messages):

• "Ty" from Laura.

Daily Log

Woke up early. Read the chapter on DMCA 1201 in Enshittification, which is pretty much the same as his chapter in The Internet Con, and every bit as effective in making one's blood boil. The HP printer ink scam is one that hits especially close to home. I came down at 9:30. I got most of my platform boards cut yesterday, and loosely assembled. My idea is to build a platform out of 2x6 planks, which of course are actually 5.5 inches wide, exactly the footprint of the posts. It took me a long time to figure out the levelers on the posts, which use a bolt (with a large phillips head imprint) and two nuts. I couldn't figure this out until I removed the plastic post cover, revealing the mechanism underneath. Then I had to figure out the right wrenches to loosen and then tighten the bolt. Took a big chunk of the afternoon.

I did a bit of research on treated wood, and found out that I need two kinds of sealer: one for cut surfaces, because the anti-rot treatment only goes skin deep; another for the rest of the surface. I was advised against using linseed oil for the latter, as it would have to be reapplied, but I've found it works much better on the shed ramp than anything else I've tried. One reason I stayed up is that I need to go to the hardware store to buy these coatings. Two more considerations: how to attach the 4x4 posts underneath the platform to the mod-bit roof under. TJ suggested silicone adhesive, instead of drilling holes through the membrane. Internet suggests an asphalt roofing adhesive. Other one is how to secure the posts to the frame. Lag bolts seem like the obvious choice, but I wonder about using longer bolts with nuts under the frame, which would be less likely to tear loose. Given that the 4x4 posts are smaller than the 5.5-inch platform, I could position the posts outside (or inside) to open up space for some long bolts.

Doug is coming over at 2, to help on this. While I have the 2x6 planks cut, my plan was to add 1x4 around the outside, to keep the planks from bowing, and especially to tie the long (20-foot) south side together. I have the frame assembled in the back driveway, propped up on extra boards, but I miscalculated how high I had to raise it, so I have to add some extra height before I can attach the 1x4 boards (3.5-inches high). I'm also unclear whether the posts nearest the house have that much clearance, so I'll have to recheck that. I figure I'll move the frame assembly to the carport in three pieces, then assemble it there, figuring out at that point the height of the 4x4 posts to level the frame. I'm hoping to get the frame up on the carport today. I will probably have to test-fit the posts and bottom rails to get the positioning right. Then I need to figure out what to do about securing and finishing, before we can put the rest of it together. It got kinda beat up during disassembly, but at this point I figure I can ignore that. Hope to get it all done this week (weather permitting: good today and probably tomorrow, rain predicted for Thursday).

I started writing a Substack piece on inflation. I haven't had much time to work on it, and prospects aren't good. I'm beginning to think that my Substack venture is a bust (but maybe that's just the rest of my life). I had the thought yesterday that I always figured that the only thing that could make life not worth living was physical breakdown, but these days the world breakdown is nearly as alarming and disspiriting. At least I still have the option of tuning out.

Email (14 messages):

• Spotify is pushing something called Page Match, which allows you to play audiobooks from arbitrary pages, presumably so you can jump back and forth between physical and audiobooks.
• Tom Engelhardt: DECLINE!!! Alternate title: "You Dirty ORANGE Maniac! You Blew It All Up! Damn You to Hell!" Subhed: The President of Ultimate Destruction.
• Explain It Daily: What caused the partition of India? That's gotta be a whopper. Maybe I should add it to my inflation piece. Without peeking, I'd say that Britain realized that Indian independence was inevitable: Britain was bankrupted by the war, and there was too must pressure for independence to resist (and while this mostly came from the people, the US also wanted to dismantle Europe's colonial empires). But Britain decided to do this in the worst way possible. Congress had opposed, or at least dragged their feet on, the war effort, while Jinnah and his Muslim League had been supportive. Partition was an easy (for them, not for anyone else) way to reward Jinnah and punish Congress, so they went that way, with tremendous haste to ensure maximum strife. Besides, partition had worked so well in Ireland, and was also on the agenda for Palestine (a year later, but an initial proposal in 1936 had been derailed by the 1937-39 revolt, so the writing there was pretty clearly on the wall). [PS: OK, I peeked: "The British, who were weakening after World War II, decided to leave India and saw partition as a way to reduce communal tensions."]

Daily Log

Woke up at 11:15. Came down at noon. Doug is coming over this afternoon to work on the railing, which right now is sooner than I'd like. I spent some time Saturday, and a couple more hours Sunday night, working on attic. I got very little done, and I'm very sore today. We went to a GLC event last night. Their speaker was imported via zoom, a Tony Woods, talking about the swing to the right in Latin America. He's a professor in Colorado, also on the editorial board of New Left Review, with a couple of books on Russia (Chechnya: The Case for Independence, and Russia Without Putin: Money, Power and the Myths of the New Cold War). They usually cater a dinner before their events, but designated this one a potluck, and that lured me in. I had some oranges left over, so thought I'd make a pasta salad with oranges and smoked fish. I also baked a batch of cookies. But the session started as soon as we got there, so the food was mostly ignored.

Finished the fairy tale jigsaw puzzle last night. Laura has opened up another, working on the border. Not much I can do on it right now. I figured I'd skip Music Week this week, given that I only got to last week's on Thursday (April 16), but maybe I should go ahead anyway. Not many records so far (+8), mostly muliti-CD archival releases timed for Record Store Day, but two of those are A-, and I could write one of those "how am I feeling?" introductions. I'm mostly feeling helpless and hopeless.

Email (33 messages):

• Semipop LIfe: Polka, dot, moonbeam: Lots here I haven't heard: Fuerza Regida, Kesha, Excavated Shellac, Coroner, Slamdinistas, Summer Walker, Jeff Tweedy, The Shanghai Restoration Project, Kyle Dion, Castle Rat; have heard: Megan Moroney (***), Tommy Womack (A-).
• Tom Carson: Frankenride (paid only).
• TomDispatch: Liz Theoharis, Supreme Horror? "The case for asylum in these less than United States."
• M7.4 earthquake off the east coast of Honshu, Japan (100km from nearest location reference).
• Project Syndicate: Lonely Empire (Mark Blyth: "The Trump administration's overt imperialism has unraveled the global order of shared norms and institutions faster than anyone expectred," but "the US has very little to gain from a return to the law of the jungle."
• Sen. Roger Marshall: PBM Practices are Driving Up the Cost of Prescription Drugs. He's pushing a bill called the DRUG Act, which "would delink the price of a drug from the compensation a PBM receives to help curb this practice."

Daily Log

Woke up early again. Went to bathroom and read for a while. Came back to bed, and decided to give it another try. Not sure if I ever really fell back asleep, but it was 11:40 when I got up. I came straight down. Still pretty cool outside (63F). I worked on attic yesterday. Didn't get much done, but we had five 2x4 boards cut for the northwest section. I attached them, except that the end one doesn't rest on a joist, so has to be screwed into the frame. I cut three more boards to extend the section to the chimney, but haven't tried fitting them. I could work on that today, but I'm already sore.

Laura wanted to go to a GLC event tonight, perhaps just to socialize. Speaker is going to be some guy on a Zoom hookup, talking about Latin America, so I don't have much interest in that. But, possibly expecting a light crowd, instead of their usual catered dinner, they called for a pot luck, which I could take as an excuse to cook for an anonymous crowd. I have some oranges left over from the Greek, so thought of a pasta salad recipe with smoked trout. Turns out I actually have quite a lot of smoked trout (also some smoked salmon), as I found two more packages in our frozen-up deli drawer. I also found an old box of gluten-free pasta (mini-shells). Might be a good thing to make anyway. Other than that, I was thinking of cookies or brownies. I should be well equipped for either.

I'll have to see what Laura wants, when she comes down. She has her movie zoom group this afternoon. Their movie this week is The Long Goodbye: Robert Altman's take on Marlowe. I watched it with her last night. She proclaimed it great at the end. I made some retrospective sense out of it, but didn't like it in the watching. I'm not sure what other Marlow movies I had seen, but Elliot Gould didn't seem right, nor did much else fit. Watched another Morning Show episode later. Spent a lot of time on the jigsaw. I think I added one item to the Loose Tabs draft file. Sounds like the ceasefire has broken down, but someone probably made a ton of money on Friday, which may have been the main point. While Netanyahu remains as bloodthirsty as ever, I doubt that either Trump or Iran see much point in beating each other senseless. Their problem is that neither side can bear looking like the loser, so they insist on hyping "agreements" that the other side cannot admit to. I say both sides, but Trump is much the worse, not least because he started out in the wrong. But I'm not in any hurry to write about this, or about much of anything.

Email (9 messages):

• Dave Barber recommends Larry Blood "as a participant in the Francis Davis poll." I added him to jazzpoll and local email lists, and added his name to voter-log. I also created a new JCP26 archives folder.
• Substack: Congratulations! Notes on Everyday Life has 100 subscribers.
• Project Syndicate: How Trump's Crypto Push Is Undermining American Power (Jayati Ghosh); A New Security Architecture for the Middle East (Ahmet Davutoglu; hard to imagin what this is, as the major threat is from Israel and the US); Is the Iran War America's Suez or Its Gallipoli? (Yanis Varoufakis).
• Joao Madeira sends yum link for "new 4DR super-album." Code redeemed, downloaded.

Daily Log

Rain started around 2:30 yesterday, escalating to hail, penny-sized or less, but enough to nearly cover the ground in white. The hail let up after 20-30 minutes. The rain lasted a couple more hours. For us that was the end of it, although we saw a severe thunderstorm warning after 6 in Cowley County, southeast of here. News had reports of tornados and flooding, especially in Wisconsin. Bright and sunny here today, and much cooler: 50F at 10:45 AM. I woke up a bit after 8. Tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't. Got up after 10, read some, and came down. Reading Cory Doctorow, which is getting me to think even more than usual about tech business.

I didn't feel like working at computer yesterday, so I worked on the jigsaw, and watched some TV. While doing the former, I pieced together a scheme for a better replacement for Substack. As with all of my tech schemes, it is based on open source software, and a non-profit business model, with no resale of data or services based on user data. But to replace Substack, you need to come up with a scheme to pay content creators. The problem with Substack is that the creators are atomised: you have to sign up to each individually, with each trying to hustle a minimum $5/month from the few readers who can afford that much. So what about switching to a streaming model, where one subscription provides access to everything, and creators are paid based on some weighting of views? I quickly thought up a few dozen refinements of this basic model. The weighting is intended to gauge interest, so time spent, likes (what about dislikes?), comments, accessing links from, etc., can all be factored in. Subscriptions could be tiered, or variable, and big spenders' money could be routed to their preferred sources (with some redistribution). Contributors who want to publish free pieces could return their royalties.

I even thought of an alternate corporate model, where you sell shares to widely distributed "owners" (I was thinking of the Green Bay Packer model where no one is allowed to own more than 4% of the company), only instead of profiting, the "owners" would be obligated to cover the corporation's losses. Effectively, that makes the corporation a conditional charity, but the donors have responsibility for running the board, hiring staff, etc. — I'd also include some codetermination, a couple of board seats each for workers and users.

Then I realized I'd need somewhere to publish these plans, so I thought about setting up a wikiplans website, where I could sketch out my ideas and (hopefully) others could build on them (as well as add their own).

As for TV, Laura offered Hamnet, which I agreed to, although almost instantly she wanted to bait and switch. But I held my ground. We started it, but she quit before it got good, missing out on something quite remarkable (recasting Hamlet as a lament for a dead son, which works because, well, it's Hamlet). Later we watched episodes 3 & 4 of The Morning Show, where the soap starts getting real sudsy.

Email (9 messages):

• Robert Wright: Why Altman (and AI) is under attack: First the New Yorker piece, then the Molotov cocktail . . .
• Substack: new free subscriber (should make 100)
• Christian Iszchak: An Acute Case: 18 April 2026: nothing here I haven't already heard (although I had to check on the forgotten Robbie Fulks album).

I posted this on Bluesky:

Trita Parsi expects an Iran deal framework soon, and Israel to try to sabotage it. He adds: "If he really wants the deal, Trump will have to be tougher on Netanyahu than he has ever been before." Hard to do when Trump has the attention span (and possibly the spine) of a moth.

Daily Log

Slept slightly better, score 95, came down at 10:15. Big storm forecasted this afternoon, as a cold front sweeps through, kicking up storm cells starting (3-4PM) around here, which will eventually form a line trending northeast from north Texas up to Wisconsin. It looks to me like we may (or may not) be hit by storm cells, but the massive storm front will mostly be northeast of here, up toward Kansas City, and the evening storms will be north and east from there. Lawn guy is supposed to come over around noon, so should be done before the storms hit.

I tried to hose off the air conditioner yesterday. I figured it hadn't been done all year, and our service isn't coming out until mid-May, so I thought it would help. I eventually got the panels off, and shut off the electricity. I hosed off everything from the outside. Then I tried to put the panels back on, and had a lot of problems lining up the tiny sheet metal screws. Worst problem was when they fell out of the nutdriver, and I had to grope around the leaf litter to find them. I wound up losing 2-3 screws. Maybe I'll give that another look before the storm today. Aside from a bit of yard work, I don't have much planned. Music Week went up last night. Laura tells me Trump and Iran have a deal to reopen the Strait, this time with Netanyahu on board, so there should be a ceasefire in Lebanon. I haven't looked at any news yet, so we'll see about all that.

Email (40 messages):

• Mike Konczal: The Girlboss Takeover Has a Data Problem
• Tom Carson: In Memory of Baghdad Bob: We don't seem like the kind of nation to be ashamed of googling itself

Daily Log

Woke up early, barely registering four hours, 80 on the meter. Read the end of the Minshall book on manufacturing. I suppose I'll move on to Doctorow and/or Wu next, as I have both checked out from library. I do have to return the Mahjongg book on Friday, so I may have a look around then. We went out to grocery store yesterday. I had run out of distilled water. We went to an Italian restaurant, Napoli, before. We had the calamari and arrancini for appetizers, and both were excellent. Chicken piccata and veal sorrentino for mains. The veal struck me as pretty tough. We picked up some things for Zhanna, and delivered them on the way home. Watched Brokenwood. Came down at 9:30, but can't work on the jigsaw puzzle, as it is too near completion not to let Laura finish. I probably should have tried to go back to bed, but feel pretty woke up. Cool at the moment: 63F. Should stick to the 70s today, so this might be a good day to do some outside work; maybe even the attic.

I published Loose Tabs last night. Came to 17438 words. I should do the break on Music Week soon, and write that today. Still have some unpacking to do. I'm feeling very unambitious these days. But I did the Music Week cutover at 11:20 AM, +32 rated, including a late A- for Tanya Tagaq, an album Phil Overeem has raved about and I've only slowly warmed to.

Email (26 messages):

• TomDispatch: Steve Fraser, In Empire We Trust

I finally posted something on Saturday's dinner on Facebook:

Reunion Saturday with a close childhood friend I had little contact with for nearly 60 years. He traveled the world with the USAF, and suggested I might fix something Greek (or German; I went with Greek). I picked out some classics: pastisio (lamb & eggplant with penne topped with feta/bechamel), garithes youvetsi (shrimp w/feta), fasolakia (green beans with potatoes), horiatiki (chopped salad), and mast va khiar (cucumber with yogurt, an Iranian alternative to tzatziki). For dessert, I made a blood orange upside-down cake, served with ice cream, and bougatsa (I didn't get the latter done in time for Saturday, but it made the leftovers dinner on Sunday). Good to catch up after so long.

Music Week

Expanded blog post, April archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 33 albums, 7 A-list

Music: Current count 45803 [45771] rated (+32), 20 [29] unrated (-9).

New records reviewed this week:

• Juhani Aaltonen + Raoul Björkenheim: Nostalgia (2025 [2026], Eclipse Music): [sp]: B+(***)
• Rodrigo Amado/This Is Our Language Quartet: Wailers (2019 [2026], European Echoes): [dl]: A-
• Atlantic Road Trip: Watch as the Echo Falls (2025 [2026], Calligram): [cd]: B+(*)
• Mara Calder: We Stay Ugly 'Til the Pretty Decays (2026, Black Metal Archives Label): [sp]: A-
• Chicago Soul Jazz Collective: No Wind & No Rain (2026, Calligram): [cd]: B+(**)
• Paul Citro: Keep Moving (Home) (2024-25 [2026], Calligram): [cd]: B+(*) [05-01]
• Caleb Wheeler Curtis: Ritual (2025 [2026], Chill Tone): [cd]: B+(***)
• Fcukers: Ö (2026, Ninja Tune): [sp]: B+(***)
• Flea: Honora (2026, Nonesuch): [sp]: B-
• Sophie Gault: Unhinged (2026, Torrez Music Group): [sp]: B+(**)
• Tomas Janzon: Jazz Diary (2025 [2026], Changes Music): [cd]: B+(**)
• Kin'Gongolo Kiniata: Kiniata (2024 [2025], Helico Music): [bc]: A-
• Kinact: Kinshasa in Action (2026, Nyege Nyege Tapes): [bc]: B+(**)
• Gurf Morlix: Cobwebs & Stardust (2026, Rootball): [sp]: B+(**)
• Jim Robitaille Trio: Sonic (2026, Whaling City Sound): B+(**)
• Ted Rosenthal Trio: The Good Old Days (2024 [2026], TMR Music): [cd]: B+(***) [05-01]
• Fie Schouten/Vincent Courtois/Sofia Borges/Pierre Baux: Open Space (2025 [2026], Relative Pitch): [cd]: B+(**)
• Paul Silbergleit Trio: The Stillness of July (2024 [2026], Calligram): [cd]: B+(**) [05-01]
• Harlan Silverman: Music for Stillness (2026, Intentional): [bc]: B+(***)
• Slayyyter: Wor$t Girl in America (2026, Columbia): [sp]: B+(**)
• Sky Smeed: Live at the Rock House (2026, self-released): [sp]: A-
• Alister Spence: Always Ever (2025 [2026], Alister Spence Music): [cd]: B+(**) [04-24]
• Tanya Tagaq: Saputjiji (2026, Six Shooter): [sp]: A-

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Born in the City of Tanta: Lower Egyptian Urban Folklore and Bedouin Shaabi From Libya's Bourini Records 1968-75 (1968-75 [2025], Sublime Frequencies): [bc]: B+(***)
• Bill Evans: At the BBC (1965 [2026], Elemental Music): [cd]: B+(***) [04-18]
• Freddie King: Feeling Alright: The Complete 1975 Nancy Pulsations Concert (1975 [2026], Elemental Music, 2CD): [cd]: B+(**) [04-18]
• Cecil Taylor New Unit: Words & Music: The Last Bandstand (2016 [2026], Fundacja Słuchaj): [bc]: A-
• Miroslav Vitous: Mountain Call (2003-10 [2026], ECM): [sp]: B+(*)
• Mal Waldron: Stardust & Starlight: At the Jazz Showcase (1979 [2026], Resonance): [cd]: A- [04-18]

Old music:

• Dorisburg & Sebastian Mullaert: That Who Remembers (2023, Spazio Disponibile): [sp]: B+(**)
• Ted Rosenthal: Ted Rosenthal at Maybeck [Maybeck Recital Hall Series, Volume Thirty-Eight] (1994 [1995], Concord): [sp]: B+(**)
• Wordsworth: Mirror Music (2004, Halftooth): [sp]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Terry Callier: At the Earl of Old Town (1967, Time Traveler) [04-18]
• Roy Hargrove: Bern (2000, Time Traveler) [04-18]
• Kathy Ingraham: Jazz Dreams (Peirdon) [03-16]
• What You May Call It: Da Qi (MechaBenzaiten) [05-08]

Mar 2001